Hey guys new here, need some help (1 Viewer)

Hey guys im new here and to Bukowski, for one of my college class i have to write a paper, half research and the other half analyzing some poems:
I am going to (but need help finding applicable poems) use poems from the 3 "main" events in his life: alcohol abuse which i chose the poem "BEER
from: Love is A Mad Dog From Hell", now i was wondering of some good poems i can use for i growing up (abuse/ disfigurement) and then lastly maybe on his marriages??
any help will be awesome, and please not super long poems either lol thanks guys
 
there are a couple fantastic poems in "Open All Night" about the death of Jane Cooney Baker... he wasn't married to her, but she was a pretty important woman to him.

there's a good one in Betting on the Muse (i think it's the 2nd poem in the collection) about his dad and his uncle that isn't about child abuse or disfigurement, but it paints an interesting picture of his home life.

sorry, i'm not near my books right now, so i can't come up with titles.
 
there were a couple other main aspects of his life you may want to consider: one was spending time at the racetrack, and the other was being older, relatively famous, and fairly comfortable. there are tons of poems about both, especially in the later collections... if you're interested in writing about either, i'll try to find some specific ones tonight.
 
Yeah i watched a video about him on google talking about the race track stuff... but my paper is more "straightforward" its not very in depth and its about 2.5 pages, the teacher really cares more about us analyzing the poems we have chosen and how they relate etc...and i choose those 3 "situations" because those are what i guess stood out to me
i can send you a copy of the paper if youd like.
thanks alot!
 
Here's the poem "Art". It's very short:

ART

When the spirit wanes
the form appears.
 
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I'd go with "how to be a great writer" from LOVE IS A DOG FROM HELL.

Strikes me as a good place to start to analyze the man and his art. And it's got some drinking and women in it...
 
Here's one for the marriage theme, entitled "barfly" (though they were not legally married, Jane was indeed THE love of the first half of his life). I hope the line breaks and puncuation are preserved by whatever text mojo this forum uses 'cause I was very careful :>)

barfly

Jane, who has been dead for 31 years,
never could have
imagined that I would write a screenplay of our drinking
days together
and
that it would be made into a movie
and
that a beautiful movie star would play her
part.

I can hear Jane now: "A beautiful movie star? oh,
for Christ's sake!"

Jane, that's show biz, so go back to sleep, dear, because
no matter how hard they tried they
just couldn't find anybody exactly like
you.

and neither can
I.

from THE FLASH OF LIGHTNING BEHIND THE MOUNTAIN
(c)2004 by Linda Lee Bukowski
 
hmmm...lemme ponder and I'll get back to you. i'm sure some one will chime in and help you. it'd be good to do one on his acne. I'm sure if more people knew about his childhood acne vulgaris problem, they'd be less likely to be so quick as to say, "Ewww, Bukowski's so goddamn ugly."
 
his SEVERE acne, it had to be drilled, and even missed a whole highschool year due to it. I think this area of his life is probably the most important, it affected his view on life (being secluded, made fun of etc.). Im really hoping someone can find a poem on this, whether it be about his acne or his overall feelings towards others... maybe his apathy?? thanks!!

Also... i know that his view of women was severely altered in part of his mothers apathetic view of him and his fathers relationship" any poems on that would be good to: his view on women...
so far i know im doing beer for sure, just having a hard time coming up with the other 2
 
His father's brutality - and it's effect on himself and his mother - is summed up pretty well in "a smile to remember".

You can find that on pg. 18 in "the night torn mad with footsteps" (2001).

Actually, you can find it right here on the website.

Go to the "Words" section, then scroll down to "Poems". It's the second one listed.
 

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